Under the Antoine Marchand (that's Ton Koopman in French, or Anthony Merchant in English) imprint of the Challenge Classics label, Dutch early music veteran Ton Koopman recording the large corpus of surviving works by Dietrich Buxtehude, inspired by the tercentary of the composer's death in 1707. All initial indications are that few other musicians could have done this at all, and probably no one could have done it as well. Consider the diverse styles Koopman applies to the harpsichord and organ pieces recorded in the early ...
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Under the Antoine Marchand (that's Ton Koopman in French, or Anthony Merchant in English) imprint of the Challenge Classics label, Dutch early music veteran Ton Koopman recording the large corpus of surviving works by Dietrich Buxtehude, inspired by the tercentary of the composer's death in 1707. All initial indications are that few other musicians could have done this at all, and probably no one could have done it as well. Consider the diverse styles Koopman applies to the harpsichord and organ pieces recorded in the early discs in the series. Whereas he gives adventurous, fantastic readings of the organ works, rooted in Buxtehude's reputation as an improviser Bach walked hundreds of miles to see, in the harpsichord music he is much more straightforward -- brisk and sparkling, using modern copies of a variety of early keyboard instruments. Buxtehude's harpsichord music remains relatively little played. Apparently written for a commercial amateur market, it includes lively French-style dance suites as...
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